A heating element is described in German Patent Application No. 44 20 944. The heating element has a preferably oblong plate-shaped ceramic substrate having at least one resistance-type heating element close to one end of the ceramic substrate and two preferably oblong, strip-shaped electrical conductors connected to the resistance-type heating element that extend from the resistance-type heating element's two contact points to the terminals at the other end of the ceramic substrate. The essence of this heating element is as follows: The resistance-type heating element and the electrical conductors are designed as separate units and are made of different materials such that the conductors have a lower positive temperature coefficient of resistance than the resistance-type heating element.